Charleston's hidden gems

The city is planning celebrations to mark Charleston’s 350th anniversary next year. Its Historic District is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is a designated National Historic Landmark, with 2,800 buildings of historic importance. Skyscrapers are banned, so the skyline is still much as it was in its heyday, while the centre is a treasure trove of delights.

The fact that so much of Charleston’s history remains is little short of a miracle. The Civil War, devastating fires in the 1830s, a violent earthquake in 1886 that experts today estimated 7.3 on the Richter scale and Hurricane Hugo, which caused $2.8 billion worth of damage in 1989, have all taken their toll.

Fate has not been kind to Charleston through the years, although it was decades of neglect following the Civil War – when slavery was abolished and the city was impoverished – that spared many old buildings from redevelopment. The fate of those whose forced labours underpinned its fortunes for almost 200 years was far crueller, however.

The richest city in colonial America, surpassing the likes of New York, Philadelphia and Boston, Charleston’s wealth was founded on gold. Not the precious metal, but Carolina Gold: a strain of long-grain rice introduced from Africa in the 1680s that thrived in the swampy Lowcountry.

Slave trading in the English colonies had begun a decade earlier and Charleston quickly became America’s most important slave port, capitalising on the trade in human cargo for its labour- intensive rice plantations.

The Old Exchange – built in 1771 with Purbeck stone imported from England and paid for by taxes self-imposed by the wealthy merchant slave traders – was a hub for slave sales, as was the city itself. Of the estimated 388,000 African slaves imported to North America, some 40% were sold in Charleston.

By the time of a census in 1820, slaves comprised more than half of those living and working there. Ruth reads harrowing extracts from the inventory of one slave owner’s will: Diane aged 76 years, useless, $1; Nancy, 73 years, still useful, $5; John, 21 years, good house servant (what slaves living in town were called), $500.

After leaving the Old Exchange, where we also visit the Provost Dungeon to see the only part of the original Charles Town city wall still standing, we continue walking and Ruth explains about Gullah, a Creole-based language and culture created by African slaves in the Lowcountry that still exists today.

Among other highlights of the two-hour tour is the Cabbage Row tenement courtyard. It was the inspiration for local poet DuBose Heyward’s book Porgy depicting life in the city, which later became adapted into a popular play.

Clients can get an overview of the main sights on a guided, one-hour horse-and-carriage tour. Some companies also offer night tours – recommend booking in advance as these are very popular.